Waterloo is a city of approximately 69,000 residents, located 50 miles north of Cedar Rapids in Black Hawk County, Iowa. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of the county. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.  Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking. For example, in March 2018, plea agreements were made that gave a Waterloo couple a 10 year prison sentence for sex trafficking teens. The husband and wife each pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion. Each admitted to knowingly recruiting, enticing or soliciting the girls, both 16 at the time, to engage in commercial sex acts in August 2016.  The couple also admitted to using a computer or internet to bring the girls to Iowa from Chicago for the purpose of trafficking sex for money. One of the trafficked girls also had a 1-year-old daughter, who came with them to Waterloo.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. In an effort to reduce prostitution activity in the city’s downtown area, the Waterloo Police Department has conducted periodic reverse stings at the street level since at least 1994, and more recently, web-based operations targeting those seeking to buy sex with both adults and minors.  Police frequently release arrestee names and other identifying information to the public.